


Hansel and Gretel AU

by telera



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Child Abandonment, Dark, Disturbing, Implied Cannibalism, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-07-05
Packaged: 2017-12-17 19:02:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/870946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telera/pseuds/telera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a prompt at the kinkmeme requesting a Fairy Tale AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hansel and Gretel AU

Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter who had an only child. The boy was called Will, and his best friend was a stray puppy called Winston. Once when great scarcity fell on the land, the wood-cutter could no longer procure daily bread for his son, so he decided to take him to the thickest part of the forest and abandon him there. The beasts would tear him to pieces, and to his mind, this was a more merciful death than starving to death.

 

Will accompanied his father early in the morning to fetch wood. He started to gather brushwood, and soon he had a pile as high as a little hill. As he heard the strokes of the wood-axe he believed that his father was near. But it was not the axe what he heard, though- it was a branch which his father had fastened to a withered tree which the wind was blowing backwards and forwards.

 

Noon came and Will ate a little piece of bread, which he shared with his little puppy.

 

'Dad will be so proud when he sees how much brushwood we have gathered, Winston' he said, and sat on a nearby trunk to wait for his father.

 

Hour after hour he waited, but his father never appeared. Afraid and cold, Will started to walk hoping to get out of the forest. He walked the whole night  and all the next day from morning till evening, but he only managed to get deeper into the thick, haunted forest.

 

Will was very hungry, for he had nothing to eat but two or three berries, and he was so weary that his legs would carry him no longer. When he was on the verge of collapsing, he reached a clearing, and there he saw a little house. With a final effort Will came near to ask for help, and then he saw that the house was built of bread and covered with cakes. The windows were of clear sugar, the door a giant chocolate bar, and the knocker was made of candy. 

 

Dizzy with hunger, Will broke off a little of the door to try how it tasted, and threw a bit to Winston. Then he leant against the window and nibbled at the panes, and suddenly a deep, cultured voice echoed from inside:

 

'Nibble, nibble, gnaw,  
Who is nibbling at my little house?'

 

Will stopped eating in fear, and the door opened to reveal a man dressed in dark clothes. His face was tanned and by his accent Will knew he was not from these lands.

 

'Please forgive me, sir' Will stammered 'I am lost and I haven't eaten for two days'.

 

The strange man frowned at him and said:

 

'Dear child, do come in, and stay with me. No harm shall happen to you'.

 

Inside was dark, as if the light of the sun was forbidden to shine through the sugary panes. There were many strange tools and instruments hanging from the walls, and elk antlers too. Winston whined in fear and hid behind his master's legs.

 

'Please, take a seat' the strange man invited, and Will sat on a chair made of polished bones that whispered unintelligible things to him. Then, as if the man had weaved a magic spell, and indeed he did, for he was a mighty sorcerer, a magnificent dish of food appeared before Will. It was full of grapes and figs, tender cuts of meat and pancakes with sugar on top. Will's stomach rumbled painfully, and his mouth watered in hunger, but still he didn't eat a thing.

 

'Is something wrong?' the sorcerer asked in a soft, polite voice.

 

Will looked down and caressed the arms of the chair. The pointy, white bones were warm, and suddenly the whispers became clearer.

 

'This chair is hungry. It says if I feed it, you won't eat me'.

 

The sorcerer gazed at Will with a curious, intense look, and cocked his head as if waiting to see what he would do. After a long moment, Will reached for a grape a crushed it on the sharp bone, watching as the liquid travelled along the bone and tinted the chair red. He did it again with a another grape, and with another, until the whispers died and the chair was finally at peace.

 

'I only eat rude, discourteous children who only think about themselves' the sorcerer said 'But you, my dear boy...You are different. Please, eat. No harm will come to you'.

 

Will nodded hesitantly, but before starting he gave Winston some meat and two pancakes from his dish. Then he started to eat with ravenous hunger, and was literally licking the plate clean when the strange man brought him a glass of fresh milk.

 

'What's your name?'

 

'Will, sir'.

 

'Will. My name is Hannibal. What brought you to my house?'

 

'My father...' Will started, and his eyes filled with tears 'He... abandoned me in the forest'.

 

Something changed in the man's face then, as if his eyes suddenly became stony and hard.

 

'Have no fear, Will. You can stay with me. You are safe here'.

 

Then sorcerer showed Will a little bedroom, where a soft bed and fluffy pillow awaited him.

 

'We have to be polite, Winston' Will whispered to his puppy when he was alone. He looked around and saw a bunch of dry flowers on an antique vase on a table. He picked one and put it under the pillow, hoping the bed liked the gift. And it did, because the covers were pulled magically down and Will slid under them with a sigh. He was asleep before his head touched the pillow.

 

***

 

The next day, Will found the sorcerer boiling a skeleton in a big cauldron.

 

'Who is he?' he asked with a frown.

 

'He was a very rude, cruel man' the sorcerer replied 'Who only thought about himself. But I'll make him useful'.

 

Later in the afternoon, Will watched as the sorcerer polished the bones and made a nice, comfortable bed with them. Will kissed the soft skull on the bony headboard before lying there to sleep that night, and the bed replied humming a lullaby to him. And Will smiled in his sleep, because it was the same lullaby his father used to sing him at nights.


End file.
